Shawn's Travels
by JeremyX
Summary: This takes place over a year after the movie. Shawn has recovered from his operation, and is on an adventure like no other when his canoe wrecks him on a deserted forest island. Many new things happen, and something magical will change everything. Loosely inspired by Gulliver's Travels. Arrietty and Shawn will be a couple, and I WILL use the American names. Please read and review!


**A/N: I had some free time recently, and I decided to write a story that's been in my mind for quite a while.**

**BTW, I know that this is Sho's English name. I intend to use it. SO THERE.**

**The Secret World of Arrietty (C) 2011 Studio Ghibli. PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE, IT'S A WONDERFUL MOVIE.**

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Shawn's Travels

Chapter 1: Capsized

As the sun shone over the placid and crystal clear lake, a young female schoolteacher led a team of thirteen canoes, each one carrying two students, to the middle of the water. Once they reached the point, which was marked by a large red banner above their heads, she signaled for the others to stop.

"Okay, class," the teacher said to her students, "remember to keep close and don't wander off too far from the group. This is an environmental expedition, not a canoe race. You're in charge of yourself and your partner. Look after each other and stay alert. We'll all meet back here in about an hour. That is all for now. Now, please enjoy yourselves."

With that, each pair of students paddled out in different directions across the lake. However, one student was alone on the shore, left behind by the others because he was the odd one out. He sat on a park bench, sighing to himself.

"I guess I'll just try to find something around here to write my paper about," the boy said to himself.

He was rather short for his age. He stood only four and a half feet tall and he was just a bit over thirteen years old. His dark blue hair hung almost over his dark brown eyes, and he wore a white long sleeved shirt with dark pants to match. His face was fair and simple, and his name was Shawn. He always had trouble fitting in with other kids because he had a severe heart defect when he was born. Just a year ago was he able to attain a necessary donor to ensure his survival.

But before then, he was completely sure that his life was going to end before he was a teenager no matter what happened about his heart. After all, he had been passed around by hundreds of doctors, all of whom who showed no signs of hope for him. Even his own mother became paranoid about losing her son, so much so that, in spite of her husband's pleas to let him take care of him, that she divorced him and tried to prove that she was able to give Shawn what he needed.

But the best thing she did was send him away for a week to his Aunt Jessica's house in the country, where his life was changed forever. He discovered a race of small, humanlike creatures living under the floors of the house that called themselves Borrowers, and had become friends with a teenage girl Borrower named Arrietty. Sadly, her family were not accepting of their new housemate, and proceeded to move away. Just in time, as the sneaky housemaid, Hara, planned to kidnap them and exploit their existence to the rest of the world.

With Arrietty's help, he made sure that they got away and that Hara was not able to have a single piece of proof of their existence. After this, Hara went mad and was locked up in a mental institute, never to be seen or heard of again. Aunt Jessica was sad for the loss, but found a younger and nicer replacement in no time.

However, Shawn was very upset over having his new friend leave. When she departed, she gave him the small orange plastic clip that held her hair as a reminder of him, wished him luck in his upcoming operation, and that he would have the best life he could have. He never saw her again, but assumed that she was also enjoying a carefree life, away from anyone who would do her or her family harm.

Now, just over a year after all of this, he was looking out at the large lake just outside of the city where he lived. He was allowed to stay behind unsupervised since the teachers around the school district knew him for being a weak boy who never did too much. Even after his heart was repaired, he was an outcast form the rest of his class. Still, he was somewhat content with being by himself, though he wished that he could play with the other kids like he always wanted.

As he contemplated on his life so far, he reached into his shirt and pulled out a thin and delicate gold chain. Attached to it was the clip that Arrietty gave to him. He fingered it tenderly, and sighed happily at the memories of his dear friend. As he tucked it back into his shirt, he then noticed a large white bird out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, and saw that the large white bird also had extremely long wings and a long yellow beak.

"Wow," he gasped to himself, "an albatross!"

The gull-like bird flew over the lake with long, swift strokes, bearing a little to the left of Shawn's line of vision. Something then tugged at him, and he decided to jump at an opportunity. He took his backpack and a small stray canoe, and paddled out into the lake, trying to catch up with the bird and snap a good picture with the digital camera his mother had bought him for Christmas last year.

He felt new strength pouring through him, as if a wind of adventure was behind him, pushing him to go faster and further. He eventually caught up with the bird, which was nestled safely in a tree whose thin branches were high above the water. He got out his camera from his backpack and stood up in the canoe to take his picture.

However, that proved to be a grave mistake.

As soon as he stood up, the canoe rocked form side to side, jostling Shawn back and forth as well, and causing the camera to fall into the water. Before he could reach for it, the canoe rocked in the direction he was reaching, and he fell into the water as well. He could see the camera in the water, and retrieved it. However, he could not tip the canoe back up again. He just wasn't strong enough.

He broke the surface, and began to swim for the nearest shore. It took him a while, and he was doing his best to keep the salty water from entering his mouth or going down his throat. After what seemed like several minutes when it was only just a few, he dragged himself onto the shoreline, and sprawled out on the sand, gasping for breath.

"Jeepers," he said to himself, "that was something."

He reached into his backpack, and noticed that his notes and drawings that he had done during the trip were still dry, thanks to the waterproof inside, and his lunch, which was a turkey and cheese sandwich and a chocolate bar, was still inside as well. He then checked his camera to see if it still worked, which it did, and he checked his cell phone to see if it worked as well. Unfortunately, though it worked, it did not show that it had any service.

"Oh man," he groaned. "I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere, and I can't even call for help?"

Noticing the calls of the jungle behind him, he turned and walked through the foliage. He walked for quite some time, but he felt very strongly that he was on the verge of discovering something great. He soon saw that it led shortly into a large open clearing with the lowest branches of the trees hanging well above his head. He looked around at the nature that surrounded him, and could not help but be amazed. He also began to yawn, placing his hand over his mouth to keep any insects form flying inside.

"Wow," he said, stretching, "all of that that paddling, swimming, and walking took a bit out of me than I thought."

Walking to a nearby tree, he laid down next to it and laid his backpack next to the trunk. Using his pack as a pillow, he got in a comfortable position laying down at the edge of the clearing, and began to doze off. Before he did, ne noticed the bird from before hanging in the tree above his head. Acting quickly, he snapped a quick photo of it, and it flew away after the flash came. Shawn looked at the picture, and it was a beautiful capture of the bird.

"Well," he said, satisfied, "I think that's enough excitement for now."

With that, he tucked his camera away and promptly fell asleep, with the sounds of the forest ringing in his ears.

O==========

The dark skinned boy grunted rhythmically to himself as he swung through the trees like a monkey, letting go of one branch or vine, only to grab another. He was quite agile, even though the branches were much bigger than he was. In fact, this boy was about as small as the leaves themselves. He was, in fact, a Borrower

He had a piece of animal skin draped like a cloak over his dark blue tunic, and his boots were also made out of animal hides, though his cloak still had fur on it. He had two stripes of white paint across each of his cheeks, and they were just below his coal-black eyes. His skin was a deep brown, and his dark blue hair went down past his neck. He was an outdoor Borrower, and his name was Spiller.

He was the one who had helped Arrietty's family move to their new home, which was now nestled deep in the forest, along with hundreds of other Borrowers, safely hidden from any and all humans. However, one sight at a nearby tree caused him to stop in his tracks completely.

He saw a young human bean, resting his head on a tree trunk, fast asleep. He was dressed in a white shirt with black pants, and had a mop of dark blue hair. Spiller thought that this boy looked familiar, and then realized that it was the bean he had seen with Arrietty over a year ago. He frowned in thought.

"Bean could be trouble," he said to himself. "Spiller better take care of it fast. Bean not find the others."

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**A/N: Well, this could be a bother. ****Not a bad start, though, huh? More is soon to come!**

**-JeremyX signing off!**


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